A Minimally-biased Philosophy of Life: Physics/Core

In the most realistic 3-D scheme above (the thick muscle-mat with {z, phi, r}), force can be exerted at different radii from the bone, each radius having a different leverage and hence a different ratio of force on the fiber vs. torque about the joint. In general, fibers near the bone ("core fibers") have poor leverage but very high force, and those away from the bone ("head fibers") the opposite.

The distinction between core and head allows fibers to perform two complementary functions. Core fibers, which support high tensile force in a stiff and consistent environment, have high elastic-wave velocity and low dissipation, and hence transmit the most information fastest, with the least energy. On the other hand, head fibers, being relatively floppy, are ill-suited to transmitting vibrational signals, but traverse enough distance to do mechanical work.

The optimum profile maximally activates core and minimally activates head fibers. The above arguments combine to suggest the optimum mechanical operating principles of a skeleton. Active stabilization will be based on low-entropy eigenmodes; this baseline reference (equivalent to a "carrier signal") will be composed of persistent, low-level activation of core fibers surrounding each bone. Then, informed by the core's low-latency, high-precision information, the head fibers (which consume more energy and do more work) need only be recruited rarely, when work is necessary.

The carrier eigenmodes coursing through core fibers need counter-force to maintain tension. They could obtain that counter-force from external loads (like fighting gravity), but that approach must be re-calibrated for each new load. The most efficient and high-bandwidth approach activates fibers simultaneously on all sides of a given "joint." Then all the innermost fibers can be tightened up to their maximal tensile limits simultaneously, enabling higher mechanical phase-velocities with improved precision, and allowing a single internal reference frame based on self-eigenmodes merely perturbed by external loads.